"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"...courtesy of 'the grinch'

it occurred to me this morning as i was doing my usual round of vacuuming used dog's hair and scrubbing dried toothpaste off the sinks that tomorrow will be the first day of december...and do you know dear readers it was like the 'grinch at christmas'. a small warm feeling started to appear inside of me and the spirit of christmas engulfed my 'bah humbugness'...for tomorrow the advent calendar begins and the excitement will start in our household...

and so to keep my little flame of 'christmas cheer' alive i went and scrabbled around under the table in my studio and located a book that i bought several weeks back...i was buying a knitting book as a gift for my friend Suzanne's birthday and stumbled upon this one, it is such a lovely book i just knew i needed it even though i hadn't a hope of knitting anything from it in time for this year...

i like the retro vintage feel to the lay out and the colors they use. i have flicked through a few pages and it has made the 'little glow' grow...

wonderful stockings...

all those knitted hats...

i would love a pair of knitted socks like these to wear with my flannel pj bottoms...

maybe if i set about them in January they will be ready for next christmas to warm my toes...

to add to these lovely festive pictures i will share my new plates ("not more plates, Tif, what is it with you and plates") i found these on the anthropologie sale table the day after thanksgiving, there was a huge pile and i was over come with excitement as they were marked 70% off...

"one, two, three, four" shuffle to counter "could you hold these for me please i am just getting more" shuffle back "five, six, seven aaaargh! this can not be" yes dear readers, the plates turned to royal blue in color...i could not have royal blue on my christmas table mixed in with red, any passing stranger invited in for 'christmas cheer' would immediately think they had time travelled and were in 1977 celebrating the Queen's jubilee (gosh i do so hope i have the right year, sorry ma'am)...and that would never do.

so there i was again left with a 'plate dilemma'... so i made the decision to buy six as it was nice and even and i knew i could buy them 'on line' later.

oh silly me, 'on line' they are still full price, every day i check and they are still full price...i refuse to purchase them full price at $12 when i paid $3.95 in the shop...

so there we are, i am feeling a lot more cheery and have plans to hang my door decoration tomorrow, yes sirree and quite recklessly unearth a few decorations gathering dust in the attic...

wishing you a lovely weekend and some holiday cheer where ever you are ~ Tif

sweet dreams...

the week has run away with me again, partly because of me and our #4 feeling under the weather, partly because the nights are drawing in so quickly and partly because of the count down to christmas is really upon us...i am trying to mentally get myself around christmas only being round the corner, usually i am much more prepared than i am this year. in our family we have christmas day then on the 26th Dec our #1 will turn 16 and on the 27th Dec our #3 will turn 12. every year i make sure i think ahead, so far this year i have managed a door hanging decoration which isn't going to get me very far...

i believe it is mainly to do with having the house on the market, i can't quite work out in my little brain how it is all going to play out...so instead of addressing a few things on my 'to do' list for christmas i holed myself up in my studio yesterday creating messes everywhere...today was my day for clean up but instead i went out thrifting, and of course a potential buyer came by because i had left my studio in a mess. i know if i had cleaned it up i would not have had a viewing, that is the way of selling your house i have decided...

anyhow, my thrifting did not result in anything spectacular...once again i was out looking for pillowcases, no luck there but i did score a lovely white cotton crocheted throw which i will show you once it has finished whirring around Mrs W. Machine...

so after yesterday's manic marathon sewing session i have produced a few custom tea towels and some pillowcases which will go into the shop tomorrow and they will be my last things i add before christmas. here's a few close up pics...

one

two

three

i plan a big tidy up tomorrow and then i will start next week with a fresh positive attitude towards christmas shopping and yes i will be shopping because the 'eco friendly dish cloths' bright idea has not turned out quite so bright. i have managed only two and do not see that number increasing any time soon...

she's promising to get all her 'bah humbug' spirit gone by monday ~ Tif

going nuts about the doilies...

i'm all of a dither this morning, i had planned a post and it does tie in rather nicely with the exciting news i have to tell (don't get your hopes up, it's nothing to do with Mossy Shed) but the problem is my typing skills are not up to scratch today, it's my 'shaking with excitement' hands...in fact i need a little of what Miss Ruby had yesterday to calm myself...

firstly though i have to tell you that when i wrote that bit yesterday about 'our #4 being at school'...let's just say it tempted fate, no sooner had i posted about 'Miss Ruby and her disgrace' then the phone rang and it was the health room at school...

"your son has a stomach ache"

"what kind?" asks i "is it the 'i am going to throw up any minute' kind or the ' i just want to come home and rest on the couch and watch spongebob squarepants' kind"...

"maybe you should speak to him yourself"...

anyway the upshot of it all, after not being in school for a full day in the past ten days (thanksgiving and teacher training days) our #4 is reclining on the couch in front of spongebob squarepants...he does have a temperature and is feeling pretty grotty so i am showing lots of 'tender loving care' whilst hoping around in my 'excitement'...

so enough of the chit chat...i had planned to show you a couple of finished items i had been working on today, both featuring doilies. then Jennifer left a comment to tell me i was featured on decor8blog, so i mosied over to take a look...i was bowled over...do you see 'little old me' amongst all those 'lovely' wares. clever creative people, just doing there thing with doilies! it suddenly dawned on me that i do seem to incorporate doilies in most of my work, i knew i liked them but now i think about it, they appear on my slips, my cushions, my bags and my tea towels...and now they are on my dressing table stool.

this tulip stool is very special to me, i remember as a kid sitting on this stool in my mum's bedroom every sunday evening with a hairdryer 'hat' over my hair (you young things out there will be clueless about this one) and waiting for the hot air inside of the hat (similar looking to a shower cap but inflated with air!) to dry my hair into a deranged 'cow licked' mess...when done my mother would attempt to 'fashion' it into something more acceptable to be seen at school for fear i would become the 'playground' victim...

so i have covered my 'tulip stool of memories' in a patchwork of odds and ends along with "a doily" (surprise, surprise). it was easy peasy and you could do the same to any stool, (if it isn't cushioned then add a few layers of batting or foam)...then get busy with some scraps, a doily (of course) and a staple gun (the fun bit)...i have big plans to paint my granny's dressing table and layer under the glass some vintage wallpaper but all in good time...

next up is the knitted cushion cover that i started way back when and then came to a complete stop. my friend Suzanne shamed me into picking it up and finishing it ("think of the cost of that yarn") and so i tried again with it but didn't get very far...so i cheated, i cast off, cut up a tea towel and machine sewed it on to the cast off edge...i then sewed on a couple of doilies (surprise, surprise) and then finished it up by sewing the seams on Miss Ethel...

as usual my 'tension' was completely out and so the cushion has grown from being 18 x18" to a 20 x 20" but all in all it worked out just fine...i have a reversible knitted cushion but have no clue where it will go as it is too big for a seat cushion...small technicality that i am quite sure i will over come at some point..

so this has turned out to be a huge big rambly post (more so than usual) but i just had to share my 'little bit of happiness' with you...

she's thanking you for listening (unless of course you fell asleep like this little one)~ Tif